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Notes Display Latin text | translated by Theodore C. Williams Book II Chapter 25: Venus advises Aeneas | Next chapter Return to index Previous chapter |
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So I [Note 1] raved, and to such frenzied purpose gave my soul. Then with clear vision (never had I seen her presence so unclouded) I beheld, in golden beams that pierced the midnight gloom, my gracious mother [Note 2], visibly divine, and with that mien of majesty she wears when seen in heaven; she stayed me with her hand, and from her lips of rose this counsel gave: “O son, what sorrow stirs thy boundless rage? what madness this? Or whither vanisheth thy love of me? Wilt thou not seek to know where bides Anchises, thy abandoned sire, now weak with age? or if Creusa lives and young Ascanius, who are ringed about with ranks of Grecian foes, and long ere this -- save that my love can shield them and defend -- had fallen on flame or fed some hungry sword? Not Helen's hated beauty works thee woe; nor Paris, oft-accused. The cruelty of gods, of gods unaided, overwhelms thy country's power, and from its lofty height casts Ilium down. Behold, I take away the barrier-cloud that dims thy mortal eye, with murk and mist o'er-veiling. Fear not thou to heed thy mother's word, nor let thy heart refuse obedience to her counsel given. 'Mid yonder trembling ruins, where thou see'st stone torn from stone, with dust and smoke uprolling, t is Neptune strikes the wall; his trident vast makes her foundation tremble, and unseats the city from her throne. Fierce Juno leads resistless onset at the Scaean Gate, and summons from the ships the league of powers, wearing her wrathful sword. On yonder height behold Tritonia in the citadel clothed with the lightning and her Gorgon-shield! Unto the Greeks great Jove himself renews their courage and their power; t is he thrusts on the gods themselves against the Trojan arms. Fly, o my son! The war's wild work give o'er! I will be always nigh and set thee safe upon thy father's threshold. Having said, she fled upon the viewless night away. Note 1: I = Aeneas Event: The Flight of Aeneas |
588-623 talia iactabam et furiata mente ferebar,] cum mihi se, non ante oculis tam clara, uidendam obtulit et pura per noctem in luce refulsit alma parens, confessa deam qualisque uideri caelicolis et quanta solet, dextraque prehensum continuit roseoque haec insuper addidit ore: 'nate, quis indomitas tantus dolor excitat iras? quid furis? aut quonam nostri tibi cura recessit? non prius aspicies ubi fessum aetate parentem liqueris Anchisen, superet coniunxne Creusa Ascaniusque puer? quos omnis undique Graiae circum errant acies et, ni mea cura resistat, iam flammae tulerint inimicus et hauserit ensis. non tibi Tyndaridis facies inuisa Lacaenae culpatusue Paris, diuum inclementia, diuum has euertit opes sternitque a culmine Troiam. aspice (namque omnem, quae nunc obducta tuenti mortalis hebetat uisus tibi et umida circum caligat, nubem eripiam; tu ne qua parentis iussa time neu praeceptis parere recusa): hic, ubi disiectas moles auulsaque saxis saxa uides, mixtoque undantem puluere fumum, Neptunus muros magnoque emota tridenti fundamenta quatit totamque a sedibus urbem eruit. hic Iuno Scaeas saeuissima portas prima tenet sociumque furens a nauibus agmen ferro accincta uocat. iam summas arces Tritonia, respice, Pallas insedit nimbo effulgens et Gorgone saeua. ipse pater Danais animos uirisque secundas sufficit, ipse deos in Dardana suscitat arma. eripe, nate, fugam finemque impone labori; nusquam abero et tutum patrio te limine sistam.' dixerat et spissis noctis se condidit umbris. apparent dirae facies inimicaque Troiae numina magna deum. |